36 killed, 40 escapes in Iraq jail break

Six guards and 30 detainees were killed in a prison break north of the Iraqi capital during which 40 inmates escaped, an interior ministry spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman said the break on Friday started when an inmate grabbed a weapon from a warden at the prison on the main police compound in Khalis, a town around 50 kilometres from Baghdad.

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"One of the prisoners seized a weapon from a guard. After killing him, the inmate headed up to the weapons storage and he seized more weapons," Brigadier General Saad Maan told AFP.

"Clashes erupted inside. We lost a first lieutenant and five policemen, forty prisoners fled," he said.